​DreamingOutLoud

The single most powerful, liberating thing any one of us can is choose to believe that everything is here to help us.

If you want to understand why you perceive your life the way you do, ask yourself what you think the point of it is. This isn’t a lofty, philosophical question that you can maybe entertain if you ever develop a penchant to do so.

This is the underbelly of how you think and behave.

You either see yourself as a victim of what happens to you, or as someone given opportunity to change, grow, see differently, and expand. You either see uncomfortable feelings as suffering you have to deal with, or signals you have to learn from. You either see the world as something makes you feel, or you see your interpretation of the world as a projection of your feelings.When we think there is a purpose for our pain, the discomfort of it dissolves. It turns from an annoyance to an opportunity. Our suffering ceases.The difference between this mindset (intrinsic) and the opposite (extrinsic) is whether or not we believe that we create our experience, or that our experiences are created for us (and imposed on us) from an external force. We spend most of our lives being taught that the latter is true – and there’s a reason for this.

Society (likes to believe) it thrives when we are extrinsically motivated. At least, this is how capitalism runs, this is how people stay in power, this is how we are kept small. When people believe that they are victims, they forfeit their power.

They funnel their energy on other people’s ideas, dreams, products.

Do we know for certain that there is some higher plan in which we confront obstacles in order to grow? Nope. But we never will. What we do know is that people who are able to create happy lives for themselves right here and right now are the ones who think that way.

Unbearable suffering awaits us all. A brief glimpse through history can confirm: none of us are guaranteed a happy life. If we want meaning we have to create it. If we want to find peace, we need to know there’s a purpose for suffering.​You will either sit in discomfort for the rest of your life, or you will grow and be better for the things that are most difficult. It is very clear who does what.